The Buyers Network

Diane Holley, Editor

The Buyers Network is Published Monthly by the Purchasing Division of the West
Virginia Department of Administration to Promote Better Value in Public Purchasing


Welcome to the October 2000 Issue of the The Buyers Network!


Articles in this Issue:

Revised Purchasing Handbook Planned for Release as Draft

2000 Agency Purchasing Conference
Conference offers Value to New and Experienced State Purchasers

Director's Comments:
Responsibility of Training...We Take it Seriously!

Need Assessment Requested for Delegated Bid Quotation Form

Purchasing Staff to Offer Presentation at Local Trade Show

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?...
Purchasing's Production Team Prepares for a New "Game Show" Workshop at the Conference

Vendor Spotlight...
Meet Essential Office Furniture and Systems, Inc.

FY 2000 Annual Report Details the Continued Growth and Purchasing Division's Future Plans

Purchasing Division's Objectives for FY 2001

West Virginia Vendors Shine According to the FY00 Purchase Order Summary

State Contract Awarded for Voice Recording

Statewide Contract Awarded for Digital Copy Machines

Meet our Buying Staff...
Pam Jones Advises Agencies to Check Deliveries

Gadgets...What Type of "Stuff" Do We Like the Most?

Current Statewide Contract Update

Questions?...Just Ask Us!


Revised Purchasing Handbook Planned for Release as Draft

Rewriting a procedures manual can be a monumental task, if you want to do it right.

As reported in the last issue of The Buyers Network, a committee of Purchasing Division and agency representatives joined forces to create a comprehensive users guide for purchasing commodities on behalf of the state of West Virginia. Also, explanation on other programs and services administered by the Purchasing Division will be included in the handbook.

As time approached, it became apparent that having a finished product to be released at the conference was unlikely. However, Purchasing Director Dave Tincher believes that offering agencies a draft of the manual may be more beneficial.

"If we offer our attendees a draft of the Purchasing Handbook, it will provide us numerous advantages, including enabling agencies to give us their feedback on what is included and what is not included," he said. "Our goal in rewriting the handbook is to provide agencies with the tools to do their job. We want to make sure that the handbook gives agency purchasers the information they need."

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2000 Agency Purchasing Conference
          Conference Offers Value to New and Experienced Purchasers

2000 Agency Purchasing Conference The countdown is on to the 2000 Agency Purchasing Conference which is scheduled for October 16-19 at Canaan Valley State Resort and Conference Center.

And, what a quick response! Approximately 250 participants are currently scheduled to attend, in addition to our staff, agency presenters and special guests.Many of these individuals are new to our conference.

"When registration fills up this quickly, we can only assume that we are doing something right," Purchasing Director Dave Tincher said. "We continually try to improve upon our previous curriculum and add new features which we hope to prove beneficial to our participants. After every conference, we evaluate our efforts and find that we are satisfying the needs of those in attendance."

If you have any questions regarding the conference or if you have to cancel your registration, please contact Diane Holley (558-0661), Debbie Watkins (558-3568) or Kelli Doyle (558-7839). Remember that if you have to cancel, you must also contact Canaan Valley State Resort in regard to your lodging.

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The Director's Comments
                
Responsibility of Training...We Take it Seriously!

By Dave Tincher
State Purchasing Director

Purchasing Director Dave TincherTraining...professional develop-ment...extended learning! No matter how you label it, what's important is that employees have the information, tools and equipment to do their job.

With this philosophy, the Purchasing Division has been in the conference business for years. Public purchasers who have been in state government for some time may remember our staff traveling to four different locations each year, offering short seminars which lasted about one day.

We later expanded this training to a week-long conference which our participants indicated was too long.

Similar to Goldilocks, we finally got it just right when we settled with a three-day conference.

We are pleased to offer this year's Agency Purchasing Conference on October 16-19 at Canaan Valley State Resort. With the overwhelming response in registration, we hope to not only share valuable information on a variety of purchasing-related issues, but have the opportunity to discuss with the participants ways of improvement. I am looking forward to meeting many of you at our conference.

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Need Assessment Requested for Delegated Bid Quotation Form

Discussion has been raised in the Purchasing Division concerning the Request for Quotations form (WV-43) which agencies have used in the past to document written bids.

The official existing form is multi-part, with a shaded area to provide individual bid specifications to each vendor.

It has been brought to the Purchasing Division's attention that other 'modified' alternatives have been made to this form, including one being a single page form.

To maintain consistency and ensure that proper terms and conditions are inserted on the reverse side of this form, please respond preferably by electronic mail to Diane Holley as to the preference you have for this form. Please indicate your preferences from the following:

p You prefer not using the form

p You prefer using a multi-part form

p You prefer using a single page form

p You prefer getting the form from Correctional Industries

p You prefer getting the form from the Purchasing Division

p You prefer downloading the form from the Internet.

Let us know soon as possible to your preferences by e-mailing Diane Holley at dholley@gwmail.state.wv.us. Your input is important to us!

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Purchasing Staff to Offer Presentation at Local Trade Show

Purchasing Director Dave Tincher and his staff will present information this month on the state purchasing process at the 18th Annual Mountain State Business and Trade Show.

With more than 200 exhibits and 4,000 area business decision makers in attendance, this show offers state businesses an opportunity to network and learn more about the 'art of selling.'

Purchasing Division representatives, including Tincher, Diane Holley, Curt Curtiss, Dan Miller and Jo Ann Dunlap, will conduct a workshop titled, "Learn steps to successfully compete and win the bid process in order to sell products and services to the state of WV."

This workshop will discuss the steps in participating in the state competitive bid process. These steps include how to become registered, how to market the business to the state, how the bid process works, how an award is made, an overview of various information on the Purchasing Division's website, and a review of policies and procedures.

"In attempt to attract more West Virginia vendors to the state's competitive bid process, it is our obligation to attend events such as the Mountain State Business and Trade Show to encourage our state vendors to participate," Tincher said. "During our panel discussion, we will be promoting our 3rd Annual Vendor Purchasing Conference which will be held next April."

The Mountain State Business and Trade Show, which will be held October 10-11 at the Charleston Civic Center, is coordinated by the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.

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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
                    Purchasing's Production Team Prepares for a
             New "Game Show" Workshop at the Conference

The Purchasing Division's "entertain-ment production team," as they fondly refer to themselves, is up to their old tricks!

This time, they have moved on from Purchasing Jeopardy and Agency Feud to a bigger and better project for the upcoming agency purchasing conference: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

The "entertainment production team" consist of Dan Miller (team leader), Curt Curtiss, Kelli Doyle and Diane Holley. Their pledge to the conference partici-pants is to create a workshop which is fun, but also educational. They have succeeded in their past attempts and look forward to the results of this year's workshop.

The contestants are all "volunteers" who indicated on their registration form that they wanted to participate. The format consist of 'team contestants,' meaning two contestants will work together to answer the questions.

Although the Purchasing Division reserves the right to modify the rules and format of the original game show, the three "lifelines" will continue, with the contestants having the opportunity to poll the audience, call a friend and have two possible answers taken away with the "50-50" option. One of the biggest modifications made from the original program is that the contestants will not walk away with any money, but the Purchasing Division assures some reward for playing the game.

With all this talk about wanting to be a millionaire, a study from AARP shows that not everyone wants the big bucks.

The survey asked 2,366 people over age 18 about their attitudes on money. Despite what the media culture may indicate, most people chose values over the value of the dollar. Other findings include:

$ One-third said they did not want to be wealthy.

$ Four out of five said they feared a sudden windfall of money would make them greedy.

$ 75 percent worried that having a lot of money would make them insensitive.

$ 40 percent of women versus 27 percent of men said they would not want to become wealthy.

$ More than half said a family of four only needs an income of $100,000 to qualify as wealthy (the median           family income is $35,000).

$ Three-quarters believe wealth is more a product of hard work than luck.

$ If they suddenly got a lot of money, the survey participants indicated that they would either give the money to          family and friends, save or invest it, donate to charity or pay off their debts.

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VENDOR SPOTLIGHT...
                  Meet Essential Office Furniture and Systems!

Each month, The Buyers Network familiarizes our readers with state businesses who have attended our past vendor purchasing conferences. We appreciated their participation in these training events.

Introducing Essential Office Furniture and Systems, Inc. of Clarksburg, West Virginia

Essential Office Furniture and Systems, Inc. of Princeton, West Virginia, offers a variety of office furniture, including panel systems, modular furniture, filing systems, seating, binding systems and traditional office furniture.

Tracy Sibley of Essential Office explains that West Virginia state government has an excellent pay cycle and great people to work with at all levels, especially at the agency level.

Sibley, who attended this year's vendor conference, was pleased with the outcome. "I gained excellent information and learned more about the purchasing process. I also was able to inform the decision-makers in state government on what my company can provide to the state," he said.

For more information on the products offered by Essential Office Furniture and Systems, contact Tracy Sibley at (304) 487-2236.

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FY 2000 Annual Report Details the Continued
Growth and Purchasing Division's Future Plans

The Purchasing Division recently completed its Annual Report for fiscal year 2000. An important aspect of preparing these reports is to document the activities and accomplishments achieved by the Division. Some of the highlights for fiscal year 2000 included the following:

Æ New Capitol Parking Building, which was opened on October 25, 1999;

Æ The transfer of printing operations from the Consolidated Publishing Facility to Correctional Industries in order to combine similar services offered to state agencies;

Æ The development of a performance evaluation mechanism to gather data on purchase order transactions;

Æ Continued training and professional development.

The Acquisition and Contract Administration Section reported many improvements, including:

Æ Increased usage of the State Purchasing Card,

Æ Expansion of our toll-free telephone number nationwide,

Æ Implementation of the concept of "minimum acceptable score," which requires all vendors ato attain a minimum of 70% of the total possible points;

Æ Creation of two new statewide contracts for digital copy machines and food supplements.

The Administrative Services Section indicated many achievements during fiscal year 2000, including:

Æ Enhancements made to the Purchasing Division's website;

Æ Lowering the current gasoline/maintenance credit card fee for the Fleet Management Program from $.80 a card per month to no charge.

Æ Conducting an onsite Surplus Property auction in Romney which accommodated state agencies in the area as well as private citizens.

Æ With the new statewide contract with Avis, the average cost of a car rental dropped form $40.18 per day to $2.97. Overall, without a preferred car rental contract, the normal daily rate is $57.00 per day for a savings of $172,840.

The Annual Report noted two legislative changes during fiscal year 2000. House Bill 4805 concerned fraud in the purchasing process, with special emphasis on political subdivision. It required that awards cannot be made on contracts with lower quality than indicated on the specifications.

House Bill 4442, referred to as the Vendor Debarrment Bill, monitors vendors for breach of contract, failure to pay required taxes, and federal debarrment status. It affects those agencies which follow the state purchasing guidelines as well as those legally exempt from our regulations.

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Purchasing Division Objectives for 2001

Æ To complete the final phase of the State Capitol Parking Plan, which includes parking space reallocation and lot renovation and maintenance.

Æ To overhaul the new and retired vehicle process to ensure efficiency and accountability.

Æ To continue enhancing the services offered to state travelers by rebidding and awarding the statewide contracts for travel services, travel/hospitality credit card and rental vehicles to the most qualified and efficient vendor.

Æ To bid and award a new statewide contract for the storage of state documents and records.

Æ To examine alternatives in automating the state purchasing process with special emphasis on electronic commercing.

Æ To continue to conduct informative professional development training programs for state agency procurement officers and vendors in order to facilitate a more productive working relationship.

Æ To roll out the purchase order evaluation mechanism to all state agencies to better measure the level of satisfaction of the products and services contracted by the state.

Æ To seek ways to encourage and educate West Virginia vendors to participate in the state’s competitive purchasing process.

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West Virginia Vendors Shine According to FY00 PO Summary

According to statistics documented in the Purchasing Division's Annual Report for fiscal year 2000, the number of purchase orders issued to West Virginia businesses exceeded 70 percent. Below is more information regarding the fiscal year purchase order summary:

Resident Vendor Analysis

Vendor Count (#) Percent (#) Value ($) Percent ($)
West Virginia 1,345 66.85% $322,401,980.64 70.07%
Non-West Virginia 667 33.15% $137,693,365.07 29.93%
TOTAL 2,012 100.00% $460,095,345.71 100.00%

*The average PO amount for FY 2000 was $228,676.00

Agency Analysis

Top 10 Agencies Count (#) Percent (#) Value ($) Percent ($)
Highways 728 36.18% $194,824,314.14               42.34%
DHHR* 146 7.26% $ 55,244,954.14 12.01%
DEP 159 7.90% $ 39,144,392.08 8.51%
Reg'l Jail & Corr. 30 1.49% $32,131,334.12 6.98%
Div. Eng. Facilities 26 1.29% $ 19,804,546.44 4.30%
Natural Resources 101 5.02% $ 11,249,538.80 2.45%
Administration  100 4.97% $ 11,187,387.84 2.43%
Lottery 9 0.45% $ 10,312,612.00 2.24%
State Police 56 2.78% $ 8,620,959.69 1.87%
Public Transit 13 0.65% $ 7,102,211.00 1.54%
Others 1,518 75.45% $320,542,363.74 69.67%
TOTAL 2,012 100.00% $460,095,345.71 100.00%

*The transactions for the state hospitals, the Board of Medicine, and the Board of Pharmacy were considered separately and individually, and are not included in the DHHR totals.

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State Contract Awarded for Voice Recording

Effective October 1, 2000, the Purchasing Division awarded a new statewide contract to CVDS, Inc., which will provide voice recording for use by 911 emergency call-in stations or any installation that must have accurate record of all calls received and/or sent, according to Senior Buyer Charlyn Miller.

Although the contract was initiated by the West Virginia State Police, it is available to all state agencies and political subdivisions.

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Statewide Contract Awarded for Digital Copy Machines

Since 1985, the Purchasing Division has maintained a statewide contract for copy machines. According to Assistant Purchasing Director Curt Curtiss, creating this contract was not an easy task, due to various factors which had to be evaluated beyond the simple cost of the machine.

Life cycle cost for lease, purchase and lease purchase had to be determined. This Best Value Purchasing tool examines the cost of the equipment throughout the life of its usage, including maintenance.

In addition to copy machines were high speed duplicators (mimeograph), offset presses, bindery and microfilming equipment.

This year, the Purchasing Division blended the copy machine technology into the computer technology by developing a statewide contract for digital copiers.

"The new digital copy machine contract will provide users with not only scan print technology, but so much more in the way of total solution by networking into your local area network and into your personal computers," Curtiss said. "This technology will enable you to scan a document, revise it, fax it, print it, store it, and send it. Basically, it offers a personal computer, fax machine, scanner and copier...all into one machine."

The successful vendors on the new statewide contract for digital copiers are Aaron’s Products, American Office Systems, Inc., Minolta Corp., Ricoh Corp., Sharp Electronics, and Xerox. The contract went into effect August 15, 2000.

According to Senior Buyer Charlyn Miller, the equipment was awarded as either stand-alone (non-connected) or PC/LAN interfaced (connected). "The connected machines' base cost includes the cost for connecting them to a single PC or Lan. Information Services and Communications Division (IS&C) and the Governor's Office of Technology Office (GOT) prior approvals are required for connected machines," she said. "Because non-connected machines were evaluated and awarded as such, it is not possible to upgrade them to a connected machine under the contract."

Miller noted that if the vendor has the same machine in both connected and unconnected versions, the user could switch to the connected item number if the vendor added the necessary components and began billing at the connected rate. (The upgrade would also need IS&C & GOT approvals.) Please note that there is no specific language in the contract for this type of switch, so it is the vendor’s choice to comply with your request to upgrade and bill appropriately. Users should pay close attention to the availability of a machine in both categories if they expect to upgrade during the life of the order.

Bids for lease-purchase pricing were requested with the Request for Proposal. "The quoted prices were not included in the award document, but are available from the vendor’s bid, which is a part of the contract by reference," Miller said. "The quotes were not included because this method of purchase is discouraged as being the least cost effective and most vendors quoted very high financing rates. Most, if not all purchases against this contract will not be a high enough dollar amount to use the statewide financing contract either."

Anyone wishing to lease-purchase must contact the buyer and provide justification that it would be the most cost effective method of acquiring the machine.

Miller added that there are change orders being processed at this time to replace discontinued models and to remove "connectivity" options inadvertently included on some non-connected machines’ price sheets.

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Meet our Buying Staff...

                Pam Jones Advises Agencies to Check Deliveries

Editor's Note: This publication will highlight each of our buying staff to provide information on the commodities and services which they procure and learn more about the person behind the desk.

pj01.jpg (16048 bytes)Meet Pam Jones, our senior buyer responsible for purchasing business services, cleaning equipment, hardware, natural gas, and service and trade equipment.

A graduate from West Virginia University's College of Creative Arts in 1982, Pam worked various jobs in the private section before beginning work in state government. After working for the Department of Health, she joined the buying section of the Purchasing Division in 1988.

Originally from Pendleton County, Pam has had responsibility to purchase a variety of commodities during her tenure, including professional services and technology. She is married and currently resides in Sissonville.

Pam offers a few purchasing tips to assist our agency purchasers:

w Check deliveries against purchase orders to ensure correct shipments of the products                                   ordered, brand, and model/item numbers;

w Always list a contact name and a telephone number on a Purchase Requisition;

w Provide suggested vendor names and addresses on purchasing requisitions;

w Agencies should respond promptly with award recommendations to the buyer.

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Current Statewide Contract Update

Information and dates (as of September 15, 2000) included in this Current Statewide Contract Update are subject to change. If you need additional information, please contact the appropriate state buyer.

Contracts Awarded

Contract: DIGCOP
Description:
Digital Copy Machines

File:
21
Vendors:
Aaron's Products, American Office Systems, Inc., Minolta Corp. Ricoh Corp., Sharp Electronics and Xerox
Effective Date:
08/15/00

Contract: DWASH
Description:
Dishwashing Materials

File:
22
Vendor:
Ecolabs
Effective Date:
08/15/00

Contract: ENVLOP
Description:
Envelopes

File:
42
Vendor:
Chapman Printing
Effective Date:
06/30/00

Contracts to be Bid or Under Evaluation

Contract: DEBT
Description:
Debt Collection
File:
31
Bid Opening:
07/11/00
Under Evaluation
:
Yes

Contract: RECMGT
Description:
Records Management
File:
22
Bid Opening:
09/13/00
Under Evaluation:
Yes

Contract: BUCKETS
Description:
Buckets
File:
22
Bid Opening:
09/13/00
Under Evaluation:
Yes

Contract: TEMPS
Description:
Temporary Services
File:
22
Bid Opening:
08/30/00
Under Evaluation:
Yes

Contract: DRESS
Description:
Dressings
File:
31
Bid Opening:
09/19/00
Under Evaluation
: Yes

Contract: IV/SOL
Description:
I.V. Solutions and Accessories
File:
31
Bid Opening:
09/19/00
Under Evaluation:
Yes

Contracts to be Renewed

Contract: SAT
Description:
Satellite Transponder Time
File:
21
Vendor:
Globecast North America
Effective Date:
08/15/00

Contract: TCONES
Description:
Traffic Cones and Flags
File:
22
Vendor:
S&S Signs and Safety Equipment, Plasticade Products, Work Area Protection, Eastern Metal and Protection Services, Inc.
Effective Date:
09/01/00

Contracts to be Reviewed

OCTOBER

IMAGE
Document Imaging

IP
Information Processing

LAWN
Lawn Maintenance Equipment

SAFETY
Safety Equipment

MED/SUR
Medical Surgical Supplies

PHOTO
Photography Film and Supplies

ALUM
Aluminum Coil and Flat Sheets

NOVEMBER

VID-TAP
Video Tapes and Accessories

AUD/TAP
Audio Cassette Tapes

CRENTAL
Car Rental Services

HOUSE
Housekeeping Services

PRESORT
Bulk Mail Handling

SANPAP
Sanitary Paper Supplies

A/E FILTER
Oil, Air and Fuel Filters

PAINT
Paint and Pain Supplies


Purchasing Division Staff

For questions concerning these contracts listed, please contact the appropriate buyer:

File 21
Charlyn Miller
(558-0067)

File 22
Pam Jones
(558-0468)

File 31
Evan Williams
(558-2596)

File 33
John Johnston
(558-0492)

File 41
Ron Price
(558-2316)

File 42 
Jim Jackson
(558-2402)

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Questions?...Just Ask!

Are you unsure of certain purchasing procedures? ... Do you need to know what printing services Consolidated Publishing Facility provides? ... Do you have a question regarding travel requests? ... Would you want to know what surplus property is available? ... If you need information concerning any function within the Purchasing Division, complete the form below:

Name:

Organization:

E-Mail Address:

Telephone:

Need Information About:

 

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Thank You for Viewing our October 2000 Issue of The Buyers Network